


sinner and saint

by tobytoby



Category: Original Work, Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: How Do I Tag, M/M, i love them, mercury belongs to my boy tea, theyre both fuckign dorks christ
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-13 22:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16480739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobytoby/pseuds/tobytoby
Summary: "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Can I stay for dinner or what?" Chime grumbled. Mercury huffed, but didn't press any further. Despite his better judgement, the NightWing was leaning towards actually spending some time with Chime./That's completely against everything everything you've ever learnt!/ part of him screamed, /you should've killed him by now! You've had a chance to three times now!/"... Alright, but don't you dare think you're gonna make a habit out of it."





	1. one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Can I stay for dinner or what?" Chime grumbled. Mercury huffed, but didn't press any further. Despite his better judgement, the NightWing was leaning towards actually spending some time with Chime.
> 
> /That's completely against everything everything you've ever learnt!/ part of him screamed, /you should've killed him by now! You've had a chance to three times now!/
> 
> "... Alright, but don't you dare think you're gonna make a habit out of it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't... proofread this behehsheh

Mercury's not quite sure why he had a feeling of being watched, but he wasn't really worried about it. The NightWing had pinned down another demon in disguise, and he was going to participate in the public execution. The demon he had uncovered was in disguise as a MudWing doctor, and had killed several dragons before Mercury had caught her. She had been sentenced to being burnt on the stake in the center of town.

A reasonable punishment for such a disgusting creature. 

Mercury walked a little behind the demon doctor, though he really didn't need to. Two other dragons held her by both of her arms, rendering her mostly harmless. Mercury walked with her anyway, ignoring the chilling stare she was giving him as they walked. 

It wasn't too early in the morning. The sun was already high in the sky as he stepped up to the podium. The two dragons holding the demon tied her down to the stake, and Mercury looked down upon the dragons of his town. He cleared his throat, snapping their attention to him. 

_"We are gathered here to today, my friends, to strike down yet another manifestation of evil within our midst..."_

 

* * *

 

Mercury was standing silently in the shade of one of the houses. The demon was burning, the smell of charred flesh, a sick but familiar scent, drifting through the air. The townspeople where conversing among themselves, others simple watching as the demon flamed. 

After he had given his speech, he had lit a fire on a torch and held it to the stake until it was fully aflame. The demon had screamed for the first few minutes, before it fell silent. It was a cycle Mercury was very used to by now. 

Something caught his eye. He looked over, into an alleyway, and cursed. God, not  _him._

It was Chime. The demon which he had thought he'd gotten rid of. It had been maybe three weeks since their last encounter, where Mercury had woken up to Chime literally watching him sleep. He hadn't missed the demon at all.

_(Alright, maybe that was a lie. Maybe he had missed the demon just a little bit. Not that much, though.)_

Mercury huffed, glaring as he made eye contact with the demon. Chime's eyes widened when Mercury looked at him, and the creature jumped back when Mercury started walking over. He seen Chime mumble a few curses to himself, but he didn't bother sparing the demon any sympathy. 

"Why are you back? I thought I told you not to return here!" Mercury sneered, yanking Chime down with one of the demon's many, many chokers. The demon gulped, and Mercury studied him while they were both equal height. He realized that he didn't have two, but  _three_ sets of horns. His eyes were red, but nonthreatening. Actually, Chime had to be the most nonthreatening demon he'd ever seen. Well. Despite the unholy amount of spikes on his back. Those were menacing. 

"I, uh... wanted to see the all powerful Mercury in his natural habitat?" Chime said in a nervous tone, giving Mercury a sharp smile. His canines were large and scary too. "Y'know. Like. At work, I guess?"

Mercury sneered. "Haven't you already seen me sleep? You've seen me at my most helpless form, demon. Isn't that what you want?"

"Again with the whole 'demon' thing, man," Chime grumbled, pulling away from Mercury suddenly and rubbing his temples. "I have a name. Didn't we discuss this last time?"

"I don't have any obligation to use your name. I will call you whatever I please," Mercury growled. Chime looked at him, and Mercury almost expected the demon to final snap, but instead Chime gave him a sorrowful look.  _Let's not fight tonight,_ it seemed to say. Mercury hesitated.

"Fine. Alright, Chime. Why are you here, really?" Mercury asked, his tone only slightly softer. 

 "I wanted to, uh. Hang out, I guess. I mean, you're sort of the first dragon I've met who hasn't ran off as soon as they seen me," Chime chuckled, but Mercury didn't share the same lightheartedness. Chime seemed to notice his skeptical, angry look and waved his talons. "I just mean like, talk or something! Like casual stuff. You don't have to tell me where your most prized possession is or anything like that."

"What makes you think I would ever even consider  _hanging out_ with a... with a Chime?" Mercury huffed, carefully selecting his words. Despite his tone, he actually was considering. 

"Well, uh. You were sort of chill last time before I..." Chime trailed off before he could finish, and Mercury narrowed his eyes. 

"Before you what?"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. Can I stay for dinner or what?" Chime grumbled. Mercury huffed, but didn't press any further. Despite his better judgement, the NightWing was leaning towards actually spending some time with Chime.

_That's completely against everything everything you've ever learnt!_ part of him screamed,  _you should've killed him by now! You've had a chance to three times now!_

"... Alright, but don't you dare think you're gonna make a habit out of it."

"Fuck yeah! Let's go!"

 

* * *

 

Amazingly, Mercury was able to sneak Chime past all of the other townspeople and into his little cottage. The demon had managed to stay quiet while they were on their way, but now that they weren't in risk of being caught, Chime now had a motormouth. 

"Is this some sort of demon - killing guide? Guide to killing demons? How to Kill A Demon?" Chime asked, pointing to a book perched on Mercury's desk. The Nightwing swiped the book up before Chime could get his talons on it. He gave the demon a deadpan stare. 

"It's a love story about a vampire and a werewolf fighting over a girl. Nothing your kind would understand," Mercury snapped, shoving the book in a drawer. He shivered, hoping Chime didn't know about the book, but the demon just shrugged and muttered a quiet, "okay."

While Chime explored his cottage, Mercury went to the kitchen and started gathering ingredients. His decision was to make soup and tea for Chime and himself. Thankfully, he had some preserved meat in the fridge he could use for the demon (since he could only assume the demon was carnivorous). 

He started a fire on the stove and began to boil the water. He was briefly aware of Chime walking into the kitchen and sitting down in one of the chairs. He was much too big for the entire table itself, but he somehow made himself comfortable. 

 "So! Where are you from?" Chime clasped his talons together and gave a polite smile. Mercury couldn't tell if the demon was being sarcastic or not. 

".. This is my hometown," Mercury mumbled, furrowing his brow. Wasn't that obvious? "I was born here."

"Oh. Neat," Chime mumbled. Mercury was a little curious upon where Chime had come from, but he remembered the other was a spawn of sin. The demon had no hometown. 

"Well. Uh. I'm sort of from the Scorpion Den? I mean, I wasn't born there but my first memory was there. I'm sort of like, a thing there too," Chime explained. Mercury gave him a quizzical look, and Chime took it as a que to talk more. "They call me the Ringer. Because of my bell? When I was a few years younger I used to scare the shit out of dragons there. Never killed anyone, though."

The last sentence was rushed, and made Mercury doubt it's truthfulness, but he didn't try to push the demon to spill. Instead, he turned to the table. He had two cups of tea and two bowls of soup. He put one of each in front of two chairs and the Nightwing sat down across from Chime. 

Chime hesitantly sipped at the tea, before tilting his head and trying the soup. 

Before Mercury could stop, the entire thing was gone. Including the stone bowl and spoon. 

"Hey!" Mercury yelped, leaning across the table as Chime plucked a piece of rock from his teeth. The demon grinned at him, sipping his tea with an incredibly extra expression. 

"What? It's good."

"You ate my bowl! And my spoon!" Mercury exclaimed. "You're not supposed to do that!"

"Eh, whatever. You just don't know how good stone tastes, baby," The demon chuckled, and Mercury rolled his eyes before eating some of his soup. 

A comfortable silence fell between them, and it scared Mercury. What was he doing? This was the sort of silence you shared with a good friend, or even worse, a lover or family. Not with a Chime. 

After a few minutes, he dumped his cup and bowl into the sink to be cleaned later and stood up. He walked into the living room with Chime, and they both sat down on his sofa. Chime twiddled his talons for a moment, before sighing. 

"Look, I'm, uh. Sorry for what I said the other night," Chime looked at his claws, not willing to meet Mercury's gaze. 

"What?"

"Y'know. When I hit on you and you kicked me out? I shouldn't have done th -"

"You were  _hitting on me?"_ Mercury yelped in a shrill voice, glaring at Chime harshly. Oh, if a demon had fallen in love with him he wouldn't be able to handle himself anymore .

"It wasn't - look, I don't actually _like_ you. It was a joke, okay?" Chime huffed. Mercury glared at him for a second, before rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders. 

"Okay."

"Cool," The demon grinned, looking up at Mercury. "So, we good? We friends?"

Mercury glared at him again, and Chime visibly recoiled at how serious the cultist looked. 

"We are not friends," He growled firmly. Chime shrugged. 

"Mutuals, then?"

"We're not mutuals either," Mercury huffed, and Chime frowned. 

"Friendly acquaintances. Take it or leave it," Chime suggested with a prideful smile. Mercury sighed. 

"Fine. If we must be," Mercury muttered, earning a friendly pat on the shoulder from the demon. 

"Sweet!" He gleamed, and Mercury was reminded how warm the others palms were. They were comforting, almost. Mercury didn't pull away, and instead had to fight the urge to lean into the touch. 

 

* * *

 

At the end of the night, while Chime was asleep on his couch, Mercury figured he'd like to be friends with the demon. Actually, he wouldn't mind being more than friends. 

_You're an idiot. A sinful fool._

_Yeah, I know._

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no beta reads we die like illiterates

Mercury had nearly forgotten about the demon until the next time he seen him. Near Mercury's village was a massive church, built less than a mile from the main town. Mercury visited frequently, predictably. It was empty, most of the time. No benches. A podium near the back, below a massive painting of a holy deity. 

The nightwing sat there now, his eyes watching the painting. The last time he had been there, he didnt know Chime. The painting had looked upon him normally back then ; like a holy painting should. 

Now it seemed to look down on him almost with a confused aura. He knew that was impossible. Nobody could hear him - he was alone. 

"What does he want from me?" he mumbled, his arms crossed behind his back. "Demons don't find friends for the thrill of it. Especially with.. Dragons like me. So why?"

Silence. He sighed. He hadn't been expecting anything anyways. The nightwing tapped his foot against the ground, standing in peaceful silence. A bird chirped outside, the wind making a few wind chimes outside jingle. He huffed, returning his gaze up to the painting.

"Yet I've fallen victim to him. Not that I am in pain, no. Quite.. Quite the opposite. Hmpf," he moved at last, briskly stomping out to a balcony high in the cathedral, still mumbling to himself. "It's not real, of course. A mind game. He's like a siren. He'll try to kill me soon, I'm sure of it. He must've done _something_ to me to make me feel like this towards him."

He stood against the balcony, his talons pressed firmly against the railing. Before him was part of the woods, and then the hills the town was upon. Distantly, he could see his own cabin, apart from the rest of the village. Dots of dragons mingled, he could barely see them but they were there. Like ants. He sneered.

"Me. Of all of the townspeople, it's me who happens to fall in love with a demon," his grip on the balcony tightened. "I know my arms were a casualty, but I've been blessed. This shouldn't be happening to me. I'm so much more loyal to you than them. Than anyone."

Mercury turned back around, scowling as he stalked back into the cathedral and threw his head up arrogantly. "Why, then, have you not banished him yet? Why haven't you given me the strength to kill him, just as I've done to so many other demons?"

He closed his eyes, standing in the center of the corridor. "It's like I can see his eyes. His scales. Black as midnight, I never thought I would find such a color as beautiful, yet -" He stared down at his talons. Half transparent, a shiny blue. "I think I can hear his voice."

"Hey, Mercury."

Mercury jumped, tripping over his own feet. He braced himself to hit the ground, but the impact never came. Instead, he felt someone holding one of his talons. He pulled himself up and slapped Chime away, earning a little yelp that was unfairly cute.

"Never sneak up on me again," Mercury snapped, curling his talons into fists. How long had Chime been there? Had he heard what Mercury had been saying? Still, he had bigger questions. "How are you in here? This cathedral.. Demons cannot get inside of it."

Chime shrugged. "I sort of just walked in?"

Mercury scoffed. "How long have you been following me, Chime?"

Chime blinked, tilting his head. "Not long," he muttered. Mercury growled. He was very slightly relieved, though. He didn't know how embarrassing it'd be if the demon found out his attraction towards it.

"Good. What do you even do besides follow me around, huh?" Mercury questioned, crossing his arms. "Do you have anything better to do?"

Chime narrowed his eyes, flicking an ear. Something akin to annoyance flashed through his eyes. "Yeah, I do, actually. These woods aren't exactly holy, you know."

Mercury hummed. He knew that, deeper into the woods, satanic cults lurked and such. He hadn't really thought about the probability that Chime would be active over there. It made more sense now that he thought more about it.

"Ah," Mercury mumbled. That actually bummed him a little. Chime had a completely different life that Mercury didn't know about.

"So. How've you been? Doesn't seem so good, since you're sort of talking to a painting," Chime smirked. His smile was a little too smug for Mercury to be comfortable with.

"I've been fine," Mercury uttered.

"Hhuhn," Chime mumbled. The demon was now walking silently down the corridor, his claws scraping against the wall. Mercury flinched. The sound was horrible.

"God, would you stop that?" Mercury mumbled. Chime continued for a second, before he scaled up the stone wall onto one of the indoor balconies, slick as a cat. Mercury blinked, frowning as the demon stared down at him playfully.

"What are you doing up there?" He called, craning his neck to look up. Chime grinned at him and managed to slip out of his sight. Mercury recoiled. "Wait! Don't you dare go wandering around this place alone!"

God, he had just let a demon run loose in a cathedral. What was wrong with him? He ran down the hallways and up the stairs, heard his footsteps echo through the stone building. He couldn't hear anything. Maybe Chime had just disappeared? That sounded like even more of a nightmare, really.

He was just starting to run out of breath when something grabbed him and pulled him into a room.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dark, but someone lit a candle and he could see a grinning face in the firelight. "Hey Mercury."

"Are you serious?" he groaned, looking around the room. It was.. Just a storage closet. Huh. "Why are we in here? This place looks ancient."

Chime sniffed. It was then that Mercury realized that Chime was holding onto both of the nightwing's shoulders. They were uncomfortably close to eachother, and something about the look in Chime's eye made Mercury suspicious.

"So buddy, I heard - I, uh, heard what you said about me earlier, with that painting of the chick," Chime mumbled. Mercury froze. "You still sure you're just a mutual?"

Mercury clenched his fists, licked his teeth, but didn't have anything to say. Chime shrugged. "It's not an enchantment or whatever, just so you know. I don't even specialize in that shit anyways."

Mercury was still quiet, looking off to the side. Chime sighed, crossing his arms. Mercury realized it was pretty cold in the cathedral. He held himself back from grabbing the demon's hand. Mercury swallowed. "Well. What do you want to say about it?" He growled. Chime glanced up.

"Huh?"

"What do you wanna say! I know you're gonna laugh at me. I know I'm pathetic. You don't have to remind me," Mercury turned and went to walk out of the closet. He felt someone grab his wrist and groaned.

"Hey! Hey, wait. I'm not gonna laugh at you," Chime's voice sounded sincere. Not entirely convinced, Mercury didn't turn around to look at him. "I mean, I can't really say anyone else is gonna be that attracted to a demon in my lifetime. So if you're actually, like, interested..."

Mercury stayed still for a second, before rolling his eyes and turning his head. "You're not going to fuck me."

Chime raised his eyebrows, looking shocked. "Shit, I didn't mean it like - no, no - you don't understand. I mean like, not an one hundred percent sexual way. Like a sort of 'I like your personality and you might ve cool to hang out with' kind of way."

Mercury paused. He felt childish. This really felt like a highschool confession, not like an interaction between an anti-evil cultist and a demon who were both in their mid to late twenties. Finally, he sighed, twisting around to face Chime. "Fine. But we're not _dating_. We're just.. Dating. I don't think my town would be all too fond of you."

Chime grinned. "Cool! I mean, uh, cool. Lit. Sounds tight. Yeah," The demon nervously tapped his claws together, before leaning back against the wall and giving Mercury a face. "and, uh. Not to be, like, y'know. But I wouldn't be against having a little _dance off_ in this closet, yknow? A little _tango wango_? No offense, but you look like you'd be into some mildly kinky shit. I'm into it. Plus, it doesn't exactly have to be. Yknow. _Me_ fucking _you_."

Mercury blinked, then sighed. "I can't believe I'm actually considering fucking a demon in an ages old storage closet."

"Hey! It's not _that_ old!"

Mercury shut the closet door.

\----

Maybe a little later on that evening, Mercury was travelling through the cathedral. This time, he was heading back to his cabin. The robes he wore were.. slightly ruffled.

As he walked down the corridor, he looked up at the painting again. It glared at him now, an expression of mild disappointment and anger on its painted face.

"Hey, don't look at me like that."


End file.
